
In such cases, microphone array beamforming is used to improve the quality of recorded audio signals because it enables us to locate and track signal sources. Similarly, in smart speakers where the speech recognition process is performed, the speech signals can be severely distorted by unknown acoustical conditions in users’ homes, which include varying levels of acoustic echo, noise, and reverberation. Here comes the main challenge when the microphone has to pick up the audio signal and leave out the background noise. Many times, when we talk over the phone or any communication device, we can hear some unwanted background noise that disrupts our conversation. That’s why it’s important to have an echo canceller on both sides to avoid either side from experiencing echo.įigure 1: Application of Beamforming along with AEC in Conference Speakers Beamforming: When the echo canceller examines the sound going into the microphone and compares it with the sound coming from the far end and then it decides to electronically cancel that signal from transmitted back to the original speaker’s room and thus prevents the echo. This is where echo cancellation plays an important role to prevent this problem from happening, providing a better quality of sound. The delayed signal is then transferred back to the original speaker’s room and in that case, the person hears his/her voice as echo which is extremely disruptive. The transmitted signal is then delivered to the listener’s loudspeaker and picked up by their microphone. When a person speaks into the microphone, the speech is transmitted through some channel which causes some delay to the signal.

Echo Cancellation:įor instance, during the video conferencing call, having an echo canceller is needed on both sides of the call to avoid echo. These problems require some serious solutions and technologies like Beamforming, Echo cancellation and Suppression play a vital role in controlling it and providing high-quality audio and comfort to the human ears. From hearing our voice to loud background noise to some significant delay in audio signals are some of the common problems we face during our daily conversations.

If we ever speak into any communication device be it mobile phone, speaker, microphone, desktop, we can hear different types of echo/ reverberation coming from different sources. Beamforming, Echo Cancellation & Noise Reduction to Deliver High-quality Audio Beamforming provides high-quality and intelligible signals from desired source location while attenuates the signal coming from other directions. Similarly, Beamforming is a concept used in audio signal processing to get the desired signal. To provide solutions that can reduce these unwanted noises, technologies like acoustic echo cancellation and noise suppression come into play. It becomes imperative to remove these annoying or sometimes unbearable echoes coming from various sources.

In any sort of communication or audio recording, the microphone not only captures the sound of the interest but also the unwanted sources of noise like background noise, acoustic echo from speaker to microphone which lowers the sound quality for the far-end user. Beamforming, acoustic echo cancellation (AEC), and noise suppression are the concepts designed to deliver high-quality audio and comfort to the listeners.
